Chapter 4

23:4. Be thou ashamed, O Sidon: for the sea speaketh, even the strength of the sea, saying: I have not been in labour, nor have I brought forth, nor have I nourished up young men, nor brought up virgins.

23:5. When it shall be heard in Egypt, they will be sorry when they shall hear of Tyre:

23:6. Pass over the seas, howl, ye inhabitants of the island.

23:7. Is not this your city, which gloried from of old in her antiquity? her feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn.

23:8. Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, that was formerly crowned, whose merchants were princes, and her traders the nobles of the earth?

23:9. The Lord of hosts hath designed it, to pull down the pride of all glory, and bring to disgrace all the glorious ones of the earth.

23:10. Pass thy land as a river, O daughter of the sea, thou hast a girdle no more.

23:11. He stretched out his hand over the sea, he troubled kingdoms: the Lord hath given a charge against Chanaan, to destroy the strong ones thereof.

23:12. And he said: Thou shalt glory no more, O virgin daughter of Sidon, who art oppressed: arise and sail over to Cethim, there also thou shalt have no rest.

23:13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans, there was not such a people, the Assyrians founded it: they have led away the strong ones thereof into captivity, they have destroyed the houses thereof, they have, brought it to ruin.

23:14. Howl, O ye ships of the sea, for your strength is laid waste.

23:15. And it shall come to pass in that day that thou, O Tyre, shalt be forgotten, seventy years, according to the days of one king: but after seventy years, there shall be unto Tyre as the song of a harlot.

23:16. Take a harp, go about the city, harlot that hast been forgotten: sing well, sing many a song, that thou mayst be remembered.

23:17. And it shall come to pass after seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and will bring her back again to her traffic: and she shall commit fornication again with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.

23:18. And her merchandise and her hire shall be sanctified to the Lord: they shall not be kept in store, nor laid up: for her merchandise shall be for them that shall dwell before the Lord, that they may eat unto fulness, and be clothed for a continuance.

Sanctified to the Lord... This alludes to the conversion of the Gentiles.

Isaias Chapter 24

The judgments of God upon all the sinners of the world. A remnant shall joyfully praise him.

24:1. Behold the Lord shall lay waste the earth, and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof, and scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof.

24:2. And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest: and as with the servant so with his master: as with the handmaid, so with her mistress: as with the buyer, so with the seller: as with the lender, so with the borrower: as with him that calleth for his money, so with him that oweth.

24:3. With desolation shall the earth be laid waste, and it shall be utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.

24:4. The earth mourned, and faded away, and is weakened: the world faded away, the height of the people of the earth is weakened.

24:5. And the earth is infected by the inhabitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinance, they have broken the everlasting covenant.

24:6. Therefore shall a curse devour the earth, and the inhabitants thereof shall sin: and therefore they that dwell therein shall be mad, and few men shall be left.

24:7. The vintage hath mourned, the vine hath languished away, all the merry have sighed.

24:8. The mirth of timbrels hath ceased, the noise of them that rejoice is ended, the melody of the harp is silent.

24:9. They shall not drink wine with a song: the drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

24:10. The city of vanity is broken down, every house is shut up, no man cometh in.

24:11. There shall be a crying for wine in the streets: all mirth is forsaken: the joy of the earth is gone away.

24:12. Desolation is left in the city, and calamity shall oppress the gates.

24:13. For it shall be thus in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people, as if a few olives, that remain, should be shaken out of the olive tree: or grapes, when the vintage is ended.

24:14. These shall lift up their voice, and shall give praise: when the Lord shall be glorified, they shall make a joyful noise from the sea.

24:15. Therefore glorify ye the Lord in instruction: the name of the Lord God of Israel in the islands of the sea.

24:16. From the ends of the earth we have heard praises, the glory of the just one. And I said: My secret to myself, my secret to myself, woe is me: the prevaricators have prevaricated, and with the prevarication of transgressors they have prevaricated.

24:17. Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O thou inhabitant of the earth.

24:18. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall flee from the noise of the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall rid himself out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the flood-gates from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.

24:19. With breaking shall the earth be broken, with crushing shall the earth be crushed, with trembling shall the earth be moved.

24:20. With shaking shall the earth be shaken as a drunken man, and shall be removed as the tent of one night: and the iniquity thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again.

24:21. And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord shall visit upon the host of heaven on high, and upon the kings of the earth, on the earth.

The host of heaven on high... The stars, which in many places of the Scripture are so called. Some commentators explain that these words here signify the demons of the air.

24:22. And they shall be gathered together as in the gathering of one bundle into the pit, and they shall be shut up there in prison: and after many days they shall be visited.

24:23. And the moon shall blush, and the sun shall be ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of his ancients.

Isaias Chapter 25

A canticle of thanksgiving for God's judgments and benefits.

25:1. O Lord, thou art my God, I will exalt O thee, and give glory to thy name: for thou hast done wonderful things, thy designs of old faithful, amen.

25:2. For thou hast reduced the city to a heap, the strong city to ruin, the house of strangers, to be no city, and to be no more built up for ever.

25:3. Therefore shall a strong people praise thee, the city of mighty nations shall fear thee.

25:4. Because thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress: a refuge from the whirlwind, a shadow from the heat. For the blast of the mighty is like a whirlwind beating against a wall.

25:5. Thou shalt bring down the tumult of strangers, as heat in thirst: and as with heat under a burning cloud, thou shalt make the branch of the mighty to wither away.

25:6. And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees.

25:7. And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond with which all people were tied, and the web that he began over all nations.

25:8. He shall cast death down headlong for ever: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of his people he shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.

25:9. And they shall say in that day: Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have patiently waited for him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in his salvation.

25:10. For the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain: and Moab shall be trodden down under him, as straw is broken in pieces with the wain.

Moab... That is, the reprobate, whose eternal punishment, from which they can no way escape, is described under these figures.

25:11. And he shall stretch forth his hands under him, as he that swimmeth stretcheth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down his glory with the dashing of his hands.

25:12. And the bulwarks of thy high walls shall fall, and be brought low, and shall be pulled down to the ground, even to the dust.

Isaias Chapter 26

A canticle of thanks for the deliverance of God's people.

26:1. In that day shall this canticle be sung in the land of Juda. Sion the city of our strength a saviour, a wall and a bulwark shall be set therein.

26:2. Open ye the gates, and let the just nation, that keepeth the truth, enter in.

26:3. The old error is passed away: thou wilt keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in thee.

26:4. You have hoped in the Lord for evermore, in the Lord God mighty for ever.

26:5. For he shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city he shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, he shall pull it down even to the dust.

26:6. The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.

26:7. The way of the just is right, the path of the just is right to walk in.

26:8. And in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, we have patiently waited for thee: thy name, and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul.

26:9. My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice.

26:10. Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in the land of the saints he hath done wicked things, and he shall not see the glory of the Lord.

26:11. Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.

26:12. Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our works for us.

26:13. O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, only in thee let us remember thy name.

26:14. Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again: therefore hast visited and destroyed them, and hast destroyed all their memory.

26:15. Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been favourable to the nation: art thou glorified? thou hast removed all the ends of the earth far off.

26:16. Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with them.

26:17. As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in thy presence, O Lord.

26:18. We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.

26:19. Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.

26:20. Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away.

26:21. For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more.

Shall cover her slain no more... This is said with relation to the martyrs, and their happy resurrection.

Isaias Chapter 27

The punishment of the oppressors of God's people. The Lord's favour to his church.

27:1. In that day the Lord with his hard, and great, and strong sword shall visit leviathan the bar serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent, and shall slay the whale that is in the sea.

Leviathan... That is, the devil, the great enemy of the people of God. He is called the bar serpent from his strength, and the crooked serpent from his wiles; and the whale of the sea, from the tyranny he exercises in the sea of this world. He was spiritually slain by the death of Christ, when his power was destroyed.

27:2. In that day there shall be singing to the vineyard of pure wine.

The vineyard, etc... The church of Christ.

27:3. I am the Lord that keep it, I will suddenly give it drink: lest any hurt come to it, I keep it night and day.

I will suddenly give it drink... Or, as the Hebrew may also be rendered, I will continually water it.

27:4. There is no indignation in me: who shall make me a thorn and a brier in battle: shall I march against it, shall, I set it on fire together?

No indignation in me, etc... Viz., against the church: nor shall I become as a thorn or brier in its regard; or march against it, or set it on fire: but it shall always take fast hold of me, and keep an everlasting peace with me.

27:5. Or rather shall it take hold of my strength, shall it make peace with me, shall it make peace with me?

27:6. When they shall rush in unto Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed.

When they shall rush in, etc... Some understand this of the enemies of the true Israel, that shall invade it in vain. Others of the spiritual invasion made by the apostles of Christ.

27:7. Hath he struck him according to the stroke of him that struck him? or is he slain, as he killed them that were slain by him?

Hath he struck him, etc... Hath God punished the carnal persecuting Jews, in proportion to their doings against Christ and his saints?

27:8. In measure against measure, when it shall be cast off, thou shalt judge it. He hath meditated with his severe spirit in the day of heat.

When it shall be cast off, etc... When the synagogue shall be cast off, thou shalt judge it in measure, and in proportion to its crimes.-Ibid. He hath meditated, etc... God hath designed severe punishments in the day of his wrath.

27:9. Therefore upon this shall the iniquity of the house of Jacob be forgiven: and this is all the fruit, that the sin thereof should be taken away, when he shall have made all the stones of the altar, as burnt stones broken in pieces, the groves and temples shall not stand.

Of the house of Jacob... Viz., of such of them as shall be converted.

27:10. For the strong city shall be desolate, the beautiful city shall be forsaken, and shall be left as a wilderness: there the calf shall feed, and there shall he lie down, and shall consume its branches.

The strong city... Jerusalem.

27:11. Its harvest shall be destroyed with drought, women shall come and teach it: for it is not a wise people, therefore he that made it, shall not have mercy on it: and he that formed it, shall not spare it.

27:12. And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord will strike from the channel of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, and you shall be gathered together one by one, O ye children of Israel.

27:13. And it shall come to pass, that in that day a noise shall be made with a great trumpet, and they that were lost, shall come from the land of the Assyrians, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they shall adore the Lord in the holy mount in Jerusalem.

A great trumpet... The preaching of the gospel for the conversion of the Jews.

Isaias Chapter 28

The punishment of the Israelites, for their pride, intemperance, and contempt of religion. Christ the cornerstone.

28:1. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower the glory his joy, who were on the head of the fat valley, staggering with wine.

Ephraim... That is, the kingdom of the ten tribes.-Ibid. The head of the fat valley... Samaria, situate on a hill, having under it a most fertile valley.

28:2. Behold the Lord is mighty and strong, as a storm of hail: a destroying whirlwind, as the violence of many waters overflowing, and sent forth upon a spacious land.

28:3. The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet.

28:4. And the fading tower the glory of his joy, who is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as a hasty fruit before the ripeness of autumn: which when he that seeth it shall behold, as soon he taketh it in his hand, he will eat it up.

28:5. In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory, and a garland of joy to the residue of his people:

28:6. And a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and strength to them that return out of the battle to the gate.

28:7. But these also have been ignorant through wine, and through drunkenness have erred: the priest and the prophet have been ignorant through drunkenness, they are swallowed up with wine, they have gone astray in drunkenness, they have not known him that seeth, they have been ignorant of judgment.

These also... The kingdom of Juda.

28:8. For all the tables were full of vomit and filth, so that there was no more place.

28:9. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand the hearing? them that are weaned from the milk, that are drawn away from the breasts.

28:10. For command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; a little there, a little there.

Command, command again, etc... This is said in the person of the Jews, resisting the repeated commands of God, and still putting him off.

28:11. For with the speech of lips, and with another tongue he will speak to this people.

28:12. To whom he said: This is my rest, refresh the weary, and this is my refreshing: and they would not hear.

28:13. And the word of the Lord shall be to them: Command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; a little there, a little there: that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

28:14. Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, who rule over my people that is in Jerusalem.

28:15. For you have said: We have entered into a league with death, and we have made a covenant with hell. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come upon us: for we have placed our hope in lies, and by falsehood we are protected.

28:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Sion, a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation. He that believeth, let him not hasten.

A stone in the foundations... Viz., Christ.-Ibid. Let him not hasten, etc... Let him expect his coming with patience.

28:17. And I will set judgment in weight, and justice in measure: and hail shall overturn the hope of falsehood: and waters shall overflow its protection.

28:18. And your league with death shall be abolished, and your covenant with hell shall not stand: when the overflowing scourge shall pass, you shall be trodden down by it.

28:19. Whensoever it shall pass through, it shall take you away: because in the morning early it shall pass through, in the day and in the night, and vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear.

28:20. For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out, and a short covering cannot cover both.

The bed is straitened, etc... It is too narrow to hold two: God will have the bed of our heart all to himself.

28:21. For the Lord shall stand up as in the mountain of divisions: he shall be angry as in the valley which is in Gabaon: that he may do his work, his strange work: that he may perform his work, his work is strange to him.

As in the mountain, etc... As the Lord fought against the Philistines in Baal Pharasim, 2 Kings 5., and against the Chanaanites, in the valley of Gabaon, Jos. 10.

28:22. And now do not mock, lest your bonds be tied strait. For I have heard of the Lord the God of hosts a consumption and a cutting short upon all the earth.

28:23. Give ear, and hear my voice, hearken, and hear my speech.

28:24. Shall the ploughman plough all the day to sow, shall he open and harrow his ground?

28:25. Will he not, when he hath made plain the surface thereof, sow gith, and scatter cummin, and put wheat in order, and barley, and millet, and vetches in their bounds?

28:26. For he will instruct him in judgment: his God will teach him.

28:27. For gith shall not be thrashed with saws, neither shall the cart wheel turn about upon cummin: but gith shall be beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a staff.

28:28. But breadcorn shall be broken small: but the thrasher shall not thrash it for ever, neither shall the cart wheel hurt it, nor break it with its teeth.

28:29. This also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his counsel wonderful, and magnify justice.

This also, etc... Such also is the proceeding of the Lord with his land, and the divers seeds he throws therein.

Isaias Chapter 29

God's heavy judgments upon Jerusalem, for their obstinacy: with a prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles.

29:1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David took: year is added to year the solemnities are at an end.

Ariel... This word signifies, the lion of God, and here is taken for the strong city of Jerusalem.

29:2. And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel.

29:3. And I will make a circle round about thee, and I will cast up a rampart against thee, and raise up bulwarks to besiege thee.

29:4. Thou shalt be brought down, thou shall speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of the python, and out of the earth thy speech shall mutter.

29:5. And the multitude of them that fan thee, shall be like small dust: and as ashes passing away, the multitude of them that have prevailed against thee.

29:6. And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest; and with the flame of devouring fire.

29:7. And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel, shall be as the dream of a vision by night, and all that have fought, and besieged and prevailed against it.

29:8. And as he that is hungry dreameth, and eateth, but when he is awake, his soul is empty: and as he that is thirsty dreameth, and drinketh and after he is awake, is yet faint with thirst, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles, that have fought against mount Sion.

29:9. Be astonished, and wonder, waver, and stagger: be drunk, and not with wine: stagger, and not with drunkenness.

29:10. For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, he will shut up your eyes, he will cover your prophets and princes, that see visions.

29:11. And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed which when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed.

29:12. And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and it shall be said to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know no letters.

29:13. And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men:

29:14. Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

29:15. Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?

29:16. This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not: or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it: Thou understandest not.

29:17. Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned into charmel, and charmel shall be esteemed as a forest?